I promised a follow up report when I came back so here it is. If you missed the first review, it is LINKED. If you missed Karen Barton's GREAT Custom Pool Cue photos, they are linked.
Well I have had my Element’s Pool Cue Case about two weeks, that John Barton, and I collaborated on, then John & his team complete and delivered to me about two weeks ago.
The Element’s Pool Cue Case has been getting used, and the design idea is working out wonderful. When I want to take something out, or put something back in the Cue Case it is easy in, easy out. The DEEP POCKETS were a GREAT IDEA!
Weight is fine as my long walk, when I walk to the Community Pool Room is all of a Mile, & a Third, and honestly if I wanted to lighten up the load a lot, A good diet could take 20 pounds of fat off this OLD PACK MULE (me:wink
, with elimination of Beer, Cheetos, and Hershey Kisses for a month....LOL. Plus most of the time I drive to the Pool Room, but some days I feel like doing the walk.Sometimes I just have to laugh at the lite, or light weight optional offered in Pool Cue Cases, as honestly most of us only walk from the parking lot to the inside of a Bar, or Pool Room to play. Not like you are on the The Bataan Death March, in the middle of humid summer, with no food, no water for a many miles to walk on a forces march with a bayonet at your back.
I have to give John a lot of credit as I think this project was a tough one, as he knew I wanted something unique. During the planning stages John, and I e-mailed many time. We had a few phone conversations when e-mail communication was not the way to brain storm.
When John, and his Team started the Pool Cue Case, Karen his life partner, and wife sent photos to me as stage of the project were in progress, or completed.
Also John and I communicated more as the Cue Case progressed, we did some final tweaking as the Cue Case was nearing completion. One thing that was tossed around was the Interior color, and the Brown that was chosen to complimented the finished project exterior color. I think the Brown rocks!
I honestly have had nothing but praise for the work of John, and his Team, and I keep saying “TEAM” as John is I think the brain behind everything coming out of his shop, but it is a team effort that does the work.
I have got several PM’s about the Element’s Case, and did promise a further review. One question people asked was how long did it take to build the Finished Pool Cue Case?
Well I will say when work started on my Pool Cue Case, as I understand it, the design, layout of the tooling work, and the actually tooling work, as I understand it took about 40-60 hours from concept, to lay out, to tooling all the leather parts. Than you got the dying of leather, placement of zippers, stitching together components pieces, building of interior, etc. More time. So many production time was 30 days.
I do know that John’s Team works on several Pool Cue Cases at a time, so it is like sort of a assembly line where certain craftsmen do some of the work, and other do other part of the work with John & his wife Karen doing design, planning, production scheduling, quality control, customer relation, problem solving, shipping, quotes, etc.
The one guy on John’s Team that is really special is, the talented Zhen Hai his Master Leather Worker ( pronounced GEN-HI) who was responsible for part of the tooling design, and all of the leather tooling.
I did get one PM from a buy American kind of guy, chastising me for buying a Pool cue Case made in CHINA! My reply to that was I bought my Pool Cue Case from an American. John Barton is an American Citizen, American Military Veteran, working in China for an American Company, so I got that American John, plus he came packaged with 10 + Chinese people (craftsmen) as a bonus.
As I said before, and will say again if any of you forum members want something that is truly unique in a Custom Pool Cue Case, at a fair price. Please consider JB Cases, as he and his team are capable of doing what few others can.
The last thing I will say is John Barton tries real hard to make this customers dream come true. He accomplished what he tried to do
JB Cases, aka John Barton also takes a great pride in producing a “top quality”, product at a very competitive prices. I think he and his team still are like the craftsman of the old days, who wanted nothing leaving their shop before it was as best they could produce. What else could one ask from anyone they do business with?:wub:
